My time here started with low clouds, sleet and no sight of the beautiful peaks of Condoriri. I was grateful that the clouds lifted enough to see the peaks before I went back to La Paz and my next journey to Madidi and the Amazonas. I will gladly come back to see more of the […]

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4503 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4509 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4509 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4553 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4553 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4553 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4595 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4595 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4608 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4608 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. This species is very variable, so pattern varies. Altitude: 4608 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Some plants, including this one was so close to being in bloom – I wish I had some more time […]

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4605 metres.

This is perhaps the most abundant and eye-catching grass on the Altiplano. Even outside the flowering season they are incredibly decorative, and in particular those growing in solitude are really amazing. Even though the grass is incredibly tough, pointy and to me very dry, it’s food for many of the grass-eaters including the llamas. Here […]

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. This is a semi parasitic plant. Altitude: 4623 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4611 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4623 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Please help me identify it – leave a comment 🙂 Altitude: 4638 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4632 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4632 metres.

I had many hours in La Paz before my plain to Rurrenabaque, and chose to get out of the city to see Condoriri. I only had a few hours, and it takes about 2 hours by car each way, so I had very little time on my hand and had to make the most of […]

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Please help me identify it – leave a comment 🙂 Altitude: 4558 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Please help me identify it – leave a comment 🙂 Altitude: 4558 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. The two strangely doubled, greyish leaves on the left side are from Lachemilla diplophylla (Rosaceae). Altitude: 4550 metres.

The Condoriri park was a treasure trove of plant species, and I wish I had several days here, as my few hours was far from enough to explore all the incredible miniature plants growing here. Altitude: 4553 metres.

The much lusher and higher vegetation reveals a constant source of fresh water from one of the many springs. Even though it flows most of the year it’s not flowing over the banks, so the salts are washed away only a very short distance from the stream. I met one of the local farmers by […]

A few weeks earlier and I would have seen all this as flowers – a beautiful sight I imagine. This species seems abundant here, and is undoubtedly able to spread far and wide with the wind. The amount of seeds per plant is staggering, and sometimes so many are released that it looks like smoke […]

One of countless volcanic peaks on the Altiplano. If you’re up to it you can easily trek to the top, as there are no sheer cliffs to climb. I didn’t have the desire to go any higher than 4000 metres that day (just a few hundred metres up the slopes), but if I had more […]

My first sight of this group was a couple lying in the dirt road! Completely chilled and did not bother to get up before the car was quite close. Even then they just leisurely moved on into the vast landscape. A hunted herd would be extremely stressed and run far away! The northern and southern […]

There are countless lagoons in this desert, and each of them unique in shape and color! No matter how close or wide your view is, this desert provides immense beauty as far as colors are concerned. When you take the altitude into account, it’s quite astonishing that many of the lagoons are brimming with life […]

My time here coincided with chick-time for the Puna Tinamous, and I was lucky enough to encounter this litter. Without chicks the adult would fly off long before I could come this close, but even earth-bound it was incredibly cunning and fast and very hard to track in the landscape dotted with vegetation. The chicks […]

This salt and mineral tolerant plant thrives here and has generated large mats close to the water. Further down there is only naked shores which every odd years will be flooded. The last time was a couple of years ago when the desert got about 2 metres of snow in a couple of days. Altitude: […]

When the flower is gone, the remaining part is well protected from being reached, so what species is the fruit aimed at? Only insects and small rodents will reach the fruit unharmed, so perhaps that’s it? Altitude: 4004 metres.

This is the yellowish variant of this species found here on the Bolivian Altiplano. It appears it does not grow to the huge size of the orange variant (Cumulopuntia boliviana ssp. ignescens)), and also the orange variant seems to bloom a bit earlier than the yellowish species. Altitude: 4004 metres.

My first and only sighting the this species, and I was in luck as this species is hunted to such an extent that it’s now red listed as vulnerable by IUCN. How much so became clear as my driver ran up to the animal and looked at it more as a food item than an […]

This dust devil came so close to the car that the driver simply stopped and seemed a bit scared of what was going to happen. I on the other hand was very excited and hoped it was getting even closer, as I knew the worst that would happen would be a huge amount of volcanic […]

At midday the heat of the sun has created a turbulent atmosphere, and here resulted in a beautiful dust devil. One of many during my few days here, but in fact only 3 grew to such well defined tornado-like “suckers” like this one. This is beautiful to watch but is really just an indication of […]

This enormous and partially dying specimen is growing by one of many incredibly beautiful rock outcrops here called Valle de las Rocas, or Rock Valley. Even in this photo an artistic face with a huge eye appears. The living Yareta only adds to the wonder as its shape and age seems to blend in with […]